It has emerged overnight that Cameron has brought in advertising agency M&C Saatchi to steady the wobbles in its communications strategy. The official line is that Euro RSCG is not being sacked and retaining its status as lead agency. Scrapbook can exclusively reveal that Andy Coulson approached M&C Saatchi in January shortly after airbrush-gate saw the Tories’ posters widely ridiculed on the internet.

Publicly dumping RSCG with 42 days before the election it is simply not possible as it would send out the message that the Tory campaign is in total chaos. There’s no spinning around the fact that this is – without question – the most embarassing thing that could happen to a political ad brief at this juncture. Make no doubt that this is a scalp for Clifford Singer and MyDavidCameron.

The all-too-convenient thing to do here is to blame the ad agency. But effective campaigns build on an initial grain of truth and reinforce what people already feel. What Cameron needs to realise is that the airbrushed charges only stick because people think that he lacks substance.